Vitamin K: shot or not?

Tonight I gave Weston his third-to-last dosage of vitamin K. Over the next two weeks I will give him his final two doses, 2 drops of liquid (oral) vitamin K. The regimen required 2 drops daily for the first week, and 2 drops once a week for an additional 11 weeks.

Our midwife, Joan Bryson, emphasized the importance of not skipping vitamin K completely. I had read a lot of information about the K shot not being a good thing but was on the fence about whether we needed to administer vitamin K at all. I like to believe that a proper diet rich in all the fat-soluble vitamins (including K) will be all we need. I took vitamin K as a supplement while pregnant and drank nettle tea. I also ate lots of wonderful aged raw cheese from summertime grass-fed cows' milk--all important things to do to make sure as much vitamin K as possible passes through to the developing baby. (The food highest in K, natto, was not readily available to me and also seemed extremely unappetizing, but if you like it then the more power to you! It's very rich in vitamin K.)

It seems that Joan and the other NYC home birth midwives have encountered more than their fair share of cases where parents either skipped the K completely or didn't administer all the doses of the oral drops as they should have, and the baby developed infant hemorrhagic disease. According to international statistics these cases are extremely rare-one in 10,000 or so, but in her experience it happens MUCH more frequently than that (perhaps because our diets are poor in this important fat-soluble nutrient). Joan told me about seeing a baby who needed a brain shunt--his little head shaved from the operation. How horrible!

But since there is speculation that the K shot is associated with childhood leukemia I definitely didn't want to go that route. I settled on the oral K drops from Birth With Love. At $31.00 it is a much higher price than the $14.00 injectable K, but well worth the extra cost.

Aside from ensuring healthy blood clotting will take place if the baby is cut or bruised, vitamin K is crucial for developing a proper bone structure, including a handsomely broad face with high cheekbones--which in turn will ensure proper development of the jaw and plenty of room for all the teeth to come in straight. For a wealth of fascinating details on how proper nutrition can make our kids beautiful (and healthy!) see the book Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Foods.

Tooth powder

After a year spent trying every kind of natural toothpaste on the market (including a particularly atrocious one called Peelu, which contains tiny vegetable fibers that, rather than cleaning your teeth, get stuck between them!), and then using tooth soap for a few months, I was about to get myself some ash and a twig and do things the old fashioned way. Fortunately I saw sense, and decided instead to try tooth powder (recipe found in Cure Tooth Decay: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition -- a FANTASTIC book I recommend to everyone). I was hesitant at first because I tend to have sensitive teeth and I thought this would worsen the sensitivity because the salt is a little abrasive. However, it seemed my teeth were turning yellow with the tooth soap (which makes sense as there is nothing abrasive in tooth soap, which is simply a liquid -- however, I am sure it works well for many people), so I decided tooth powder might be the answer. It is more palatable than brushing with baking soda alone, though it definitely does have a salty flavor.

The problem with toothpastes, even those that are fluoride-free (remember, fluoride is an industrial poison and can cause tooth decay, late eruption of teeth from the gums, fluorosis (white spots on teeth), and many more problems), and contain no SLS (sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate), is that every single brand has glycerin, which is derived from vegetables and needed to maintain moistness. Unfortunately, glycerin is an inherently sticky paste which adheres very stubbornly to teeth and causes problems over time -- it would take 28 rinses to get all the glycerin off, and who has time for that?!

I have been brushing for about a week with tooth powder and so far, it is hands-down my favorite.

Tooth powder recipe:
1 tbsp. baking soda
1 tsp. fine-ground Celtic sea salt
10 drops peppermint oil

Mix all. Sprinkle a pinch or two on a wet toothbrush and enjoy the clean feeling and a very healthy smile!

And yes, I store ours in an individual-sized glass butter dish from Williams-Sonoma. At $6, this was the most expensive part of our tooth-cleaning regimen.

Don't forget that in the past, people did not use toothpaste, but rather brushed with things like ash and baking soda. Some people, like the Swiss living in isolated areas of the Rhone Valley, never brushed and still enjoyed complete freedom from decay (as Weston A. Price discovered)! Along with bad food, toothpaste is a modern invention and a grand money-making scheme. People who have decayed teeth have them because of a diet poor in nutrients and/or rich in refined sugar, white flour, and other processed, denatured foods. (To sum up the reason for this, it is due to the fact that these foods cause an imbalance in blood sugar, resulting in minerals being pulled from the bones and teeth. I highly recommend reading Cure Tooth Decay to completely understand your dental well-being and how to improve it, regardless of age or dental health. Most of the decay problems begin on the inside of the body, in the level and balance of specific minerals in the blood stream, not in the mouth itself.)

There is much more to be discussed on this topic, but here is one example of how the modernization of diet has transformed our dental health, facial structure, and dental palate width (thus plaguing every modern child for the last 40 years with cavities, crowded teeth, malocclusion, and impacted wisdom teeth) -- truly a triumph for the dental and orthodontic industries, but a tragedy for the rest of us!

The grandmother, at right, was of Polish Jewish descent and born in 1899 to recent immigrants to London's East End from Galicia. She lived to be 90 years old. Note the wide face and wide dental palate, with ample room for all her teeth (and no, this woman did not have orthodontics!). Her daughter's face is much narrower, with a noticeably narrowed dental palate, but still with straight teeth (as she grew up during the 30s, she would not have had orthodontics either). The little boy at left is the most striking -- a narrow face, narrow dental palate, and teeth that will need a lot of help to be straight. We can only speculate about the diet of the grandmother as a child, and the diet of her mother while she was pregnant and breastfeeding, but likely it was very nutrient-dense, with plenty of liver, sourdough breads, preserved fish and meats, and much more. (for a closer look, see this link)